Demountable shower stand



Dec. 4, 1962 J. A. BERGIN ET AL DEMOUNTABLE SHOWER STAND II'NVENTORS John H. Ber Theodore Fliobertsozz Filed March 5, 1959 United States Patent Office 3,055,958 Patented. Dec. 4, 19652 3,066,953 DEMOUNTABLE HOWER STAND John A. Bergin, Framingham, and Theodore F. Robertson, Brookiine, Mass, assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Mar. 3, 1959, Ser. No. 796,995 1 Claim. (Q1. 235-61) (Granted under Titie 35, US. Code (1952), see. 266) The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to an improvement in demountable shower bath stands and more particularly to a stand including a combined soap receptacle, guide for assembling the stand and reenforcing member for the leg structure of the stand.

Portable shower baths have long been used in many applications, notably by campers and the military services. The nature of their use requires that they be easily disassembled to occupy a minimum of space in storage or transport. The nature of this use further requires a rugged construction to enable the unit to withstand repeated assembly and disassembly and particularly the treatment which must be anticipated during transport when the shower stand may be expected to be packed wherever space permits and frequently among or under much larger and heavier items. In addition, the portability of the device demands that its weight be kept to a minimum, particularly in military applications. This combination of characteristics emphasizes the requirement for a simple, rugged, light weight and economical construction for shower bath stands.

While simplicity of design is of paramount importance, certain features in addition to the delivery of a finely divided stream of water are highly desirable in a shower bath stand. Among these additional features, a conveniently located, non-protruding soap dish permanently fixed to the stand must be considered most desirable. Insofar as is known, those heretofore devised for this purpose are incompatible with the functional requirements of a portable shower stand as previously described because the absence of permanent fixation to the stand makes them subject to loss or because their protrusion from the stand makes them highly susceptible to damage or accidental removal.

It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a portable shower bath stand of improved strength including an integral soap dish. A further object of this invention is to provide a shower bath stand which includes a conveniently positioned, permanently fixed combined soap dish and leg locating and reenforcing member. A still further object of this invention is to provide a shower stand as set forth in the preceding objects which is simple to fabricate because the combined soap dish and reenforcing member may function as a welding jig for the assembly of the parts of the stand. Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent during the course of the following description wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application in which like numerals are used to designate like parts throughout the same, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a shower stand embodying the present invention in operative position showing a water supply hose connected thereto;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view of the stand shown in FIGURE 1 on an enlarged scale;

PiGURE 3 is a partial vertical section taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2; and,

FIGURE 4 is a horizontal section taken along line 44 of FIGURE 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown, the shower stand of the present invention is comprised of a body designated generally by the numeral 10 and tripod supporting structure including three identical demountable legs 11.

The body 10 comprises an elongated tubular riser 12 which is provided with a threaded portion on each end. Threaded on the upper end of the riser 12 is a shower head 13 carrying four downwardly directed conventional spray nozzles 14, at equally spaced points around the periphery thereof. A rigid disc shaped member 15 is welded to the riser 12 immediately above the threaded portion at its lower end. The disc shaped. member 15 is provided with a central aperture 16 of a size to be snugly receivable on the riser 12 and may include three notches 17 uniformly spaced in its circumference for a purpose to be described. The disc shaped member 15 is preferably dished or otherwise formed to extend slightly upwardly and outwardly of the riser 12 to provide a convenient soap dish. This soap dish forming member 15 is also preferably provided with a plurality of apertures 18 and 18 therethrough to permit drainage of excess water and soap suds resulting from its use as a soap dish, the apertures 18 being located in the body thereof and the apertures 18 along the periphery of aperture 16 to prevent water and soap suds from accumulating in the lowermost region of this dish when the shower stand is in use.

The upper ends of the previously mentioned supporting legs 11 are telescopically receivable in three downwardly and outwardly extending elongated tubular leg sockets 19 welded at their upper ends to the riser 12 at equally spaced points around its periphery above the disc shaped member 15 so as to form a tripod leg mount for the riser as shown in the drawing. The relationship between the upper ends of the leg sockets 19 and the riser 12 is such that the riser wall forms a stop for the upper ends of the legs 11 when they are inserted in the sockets, as best shown in FIGURE 3. Adjacent their lower ends the leg sockets 19 engage in the notches 17 provided in the periphery of the .disc shaped member 15 and are welded to the disc shaped member at these points whereby the free ends of the sockets are reenforced and a rigid and extremely sturdy unitary structure is formed by the disc shaped member 15, the riser 12. and the three leg sockets 19.

The threaded portion at the lower end of the riser 12 is provided with a conventional quick disconnect fitting 20 which is threaded thereon. This fitting may be of any conventional type necessary to mate. with the fitting to be used on the water supply hose 21.

The legs 11 comprise elongated tubular members 22 which are telescopically receivable in leg sockets 19 and are provided with appropriate ground engaging tips 23 at their lower ends. In assembling the stand for use, the legs 11 are inserted in the leg sockets 19 until their upper ends engage the wall of riser 12 and the conduit from an appropriate water supply is coupled to the fitting 20. Disassembly is accomplished by reversing this procedure.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that we have devised a simple and rugged shower stand embodying a member which performs several functions. This member, i.e. the disc shaped member 15, provides a unitary reenforcing structure for the legs 11 and leg sockets 19 by joining the leg sockets 19 and the central riser 12. The member 15 also serves as a conveniently located soap dish for the users of the shower stand. The disc shaped member 15 may also be used as a welding jig J for the assembly of the leg sockets 19 to the riser 12 since the notches 17 in the periphery thereof serve to position the leg sockets 19 during the welding operation. We have thus described a shower stand wherein a single member serves as a reenforcing member, a soap dish and a welding jig for the fabrication of the body of the shower stand.

It is understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that changes in the shape, size and arrangement of the parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claim.

We claim:

A demountable shower stand comprising a vertically extending tubular body provided with means for attaching a nozzle supporting shower head at its upper end and a hose connection at its lower end, leg sockets rigidly fixed at equally spaced intervals around the periphery of said body and extending downwardly and outwardly therefrom in tripod fashion, a rigid disc shaped member provided with a central aperture therethrough snugly receivable on said body and fixed thereto near its lower end, said member extending outwardly from said body and being provided with notches along its periphery adapted to receive said leg sockets, said leg sockets being fixed to said member, and removable elongated legs receivable in said sockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 418,831 Wade Jan. 7, 1890 512,471 Holt Jan. 9, 1894 1,036,240 Holden Aug. 20, 1912 1,155,115 Watson Sept. 28, 1915 1,368,416 Thomas Feb. 15, 1921 1,673,721 Turner- June 12, 1928 1,959,886 Wadsworth May 22, 1934 2,242,840 Worden May 20, 1941 

